


hello out there, we're on the air

by ShippingEverything



Category: Spring Awakening - Sheik/Sater
Genre: (will it become a ship? i honestly dont know), Alternate Universe - Hockey, Gen, Thea And Hanschen Are Siblings, martha and ilse centric, mixed gender hockey teams bc i said so, they dont even show up yet but its important
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-03-16 04:37:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13628730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShippingEverything/pseuds/ShippingEverything
Summary: Martha Bessel gets traded. Ilse Neumann gets called up. These things are somehow both related and unrelated.or: a collection of self-indulgent one shots based on a hockey au that i created





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> damn lydia, back at it again with the writing niche fics that only you care about!
> 
> but i mean, they do say that you should write for yourself, first and foremost. write the fic you wanna see in the world etc etc etc
> 
> title from Good Old Hockey Game by The Bates. i uh,,,, wrote a short thing on What Hockey Is and how it works for this fic and thats [here](http://pldubrahs.tumblr.com/post/170739200155/more-hockey-for-people-who-have-no-idea-what) if thats something your interested in

Spokane Threshers @ThreshersNHL · 41m  
#SPK acquires right wing Martha Bessell from @NOVampires in exchange for defender Greta Brandenburg  
More details: bit.ly/EVZJwfL

New Orleans Vampires @NOVampires · 41m  
#Vamps acquire D Greta Brandenburg from Spokane in exchange for RW Martha Bessell → nov.co/brandenberg0226

g!l @upthegil · 30m  
theres no way the vamps’ve landed in nola yet so either bess uses her phone on planes or they announced the trade w/o talking to her #yikes

Martha Bessell @MBessell · 1m  
I'd like to thank @NOVampires for giving me a chance and starting off my career. The #Vamps will always have a special place in my heart

Martha Bessell @MBessell · 35s  
And I’m beyond excited for an opportunity with @ThresherNHL, I can’t wait to get out there and get things started! #GoThreshers!

* * *

Martha’s been home for ten, maybe fifteen minutes when the call comes in. She looks up from her refrigerator and to where her phone is plugged in on the counter. _I guess it's charged now_ , She thinks, but decides to let it ring out, quickly going back to scrounging for something that hasn’t gone bad since she was last home. It’s past midnight and she’s just gotten back from a three-day Texas road trip where the Vampires lost both games; luckily, their last stop was Houston and the plane ride was short, even if her phone died on the way. The morning skate tomorrow is optional, so she's excited to be able to sleep a decent number of hours in her own bed. After a few minutes, she gives up on finding anything edible in her fridge, and goes to check her phone before trying the cabinets.

She frowns. Her phone is flooded with notifications, and her agent’s called five times. Worried, she pulls up the newest voicemail without even reading her other notifications.

“Martha, sweetheart,” Her agent's voice says, soft in a way that makes Martha nervous, “Listen, you probably just got home, but call me as soon as you hear this. I,” Her agent breaks off in a sigh. “It doesn't matter what time it is, just call. Something happened after the game and it's… Important. Oh, and stay off of social media!”

The call ends abruptly, leaving Martha confused and afraid. She pulls up the other voicemails, but they're all more of the same, each one leaving her with more questions and less answers. Her finger hovers over the Twitter app, despite her agent's words. It would definitely clear things up, but at what cost? She decides against it, flipping to the phone app and dialing her agent instead. It’s answered on the first ring.

“Have you checked twitter?” Her agent asks, sounding slightly out of breath.

“No, you said not to,” Martha says, “But-”

“I’ll keep this quick. The Vamps traded you.”

Everything freezes for a second. Martha slides into a chair at her kitchen table. “What?”

“You’ve been traded, to the Spokane Threshers,” Her agent says, voice calm and unwavering, “The GM will probably call you tomorrow morning, but the news is out on all the hockey sites so-”

“Wait, _when_?” Martha says. A desperate, broken laugh crawls up her throat, half hysterical and half terrified, “The game just ended! I’ve been home for five minutes!”

Her agent sighs, “I’d say it probably happened during the game and was finalized while you were on the plane. News came in maybe forty-five minutes ago.”

“But,” Martha falters for a moment. She looks back into the past few weeks, wondering if she had just ignored the signs, but nothing pops out. “I’ve been producing… I know we haven’t been winning all the game we should’ve been, but it’s February, and we’re in the wild card spot. Hell, if Minnesota or St Louis slips we might even get a main seed.”

“From what I’ve read, it’s not about _you_ , it’s about who they’re getting in return. The Vampires need a competent defender to back up their goalie, and the Threshers wanted a winger,” Her agent sighs again, dropping the detached professional voice. “I know it sucks, Bessie, but you have to know that it wasn’t personal.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s just hockey,” Martha sarcastically agrees, saying the line that she knows she’ll have to repeat to reporters for the next month. “This is my _only_ team. I was one of their first draft picks, I thought-”

Martha stops. _I thought I’d_ … what? Retire in New Orleans, get an A or the C, be a city favorite and one of the first to lift the cup when they finally won it? _You’re not Lemieux or Yzerman_ , she thinks, cursing her own ridiculousness. She was a third round pick of an expansion team, someone who no one expected to even crack the roster. Hockey players rarely get the luxury of sticking with one team for their entire career, unless they’re supremely good or supremely bad, but she had wanted it nonetheless.

“They’re your first team, but they won’t be your last,” Her agent says after a long moment. “The Threshers are up and coming, a young team with a dedicated fanbase. I know you’ve had a nice four years in New Orleans, but the change might be good for you.”

Martha stays on the line for a while longer as her agent talks semantics and assures her that it will all be okay. When they hang up, leans back and stares at her kitchen ceiling. She has to be ready to move to Spokane in less than twelve hours. _I should start packing essentials_ , she thinks, _I can ask somebody to come down here and help me move completely this summer, but I need to start packing stuff I’m going to bring up with me_. She needs to figure out what dishes, what accessories, what clothes she’s bringing on this first trip; she needs to pack some boxes up that she might get shipped up to her after her first move; she needs to find a place to rent at such short notice.

Instead of doing any of that, she picks her phone back up and looks up the Threshers.

The team’s older than the Vamps, though only by five years; they’ve been to the playoffs twice, to the conference finals once, but they’ve always finished pretty high in the rankings for an expansion team in the Pacific. Spokane, Washington is a city that’s half the size of New Orleans, smaller than even Winnipeg, but the people seem to care more. She’s played them, of course, but you try and keep your head down and win when you’re the visiting team, and they only play them twice a year so the team really doesn’t stick out in her mind. As Martha watches videos of fans at the games, she finds herself imagining what it’ll be like to play for them; Vamps games have never been _empty_ but at the same time they generally hover at about half capacity or less, meanwhile the Threshers seem to be close to full in every video she finds, so it’ll be an adjustment for the crowd-size alone. She wonders what it’ll be like living and working in a city where there are more people at their games and events, more people truly passionate about the sport.

As she’s reading, her phone buzzes again, this time with a DM from another verified account. It’s someone named Wendla Bergmann, and a quick scroll through her twitter reveals that she’s the captain of the Threshers. Martha clicks open the DM.

 

 

Wendla Bergman  
@wbergy88  
  
Hey Martha! I'm Wendla, obviously, and I'm the captain of the Threshers.  
  
I know it's really late, but I saw the news and wanted to welcome you to the team!  
  
12:23 AM  
  
  
  
Thanks Wendla. You can call me Bess though  
12:23 AM  
  
  
  
Only if you'll call me Bergy!   
12:23 AM  
  
  
  
You've got a deal  
12:24 AM  
  
  
  
  
12:24 AM

Martha smiles a bit. Martha doesn’t know much about Wendla, but she’s knows that Wendla’s not much older than she is. Her current captain--old captain, now, Martha supposes--is a grizzled vet, he was taken in the Vamps’ expansion draft, he’s nearly thirty-four, and is used to being on a team that’s mostly bad. He’s kind, and encouraging when necessary, but Wendla’s pure enthusiasm and emoji use is an interesting change, to say the least. Martha’s phone beeps again in quick succession.

 

 

Well, I don’t want to keep you long, I know you played a game tonight, but I just want you to know that we can’t wait to have you up here! Let me know when you get in!  
  
Also, not to be presumptuous, but if you don’t have a place, I could host you.  
  
I don’t want to pressure you or anything, but I just bought a house last summer and have three guest rooms, and I know how hard it can be for people coming in mid-season to try and find apartments.  
  
But if you have something lined up, that’s fine too! No pressure!  
  
12:26 AM

Martha blinks at the flurry of messages. She sends back a simple **_I’ll have to think about it, but thank you for the offer_** , but if she doesn’t find anything promising before her flight leaves tomorrow, she’s almost sure she’ll take Wendla up on her offer. _Maybe my agent was right_ , She thinks, her mood slightly turned up for the first time since her phone’s come back on, _Maybe this won’t be so bad_.

* * *

crosbysarmveins  
Are you fucking kidding me I _just_ bought a Bessell jersey and they TRADED HER  
#GUESS IM A THRESHERS FAN NOW FML #why does this always happen to me #Martha Bessell #New Orleans Vampires #Spokane Threshers  
7 notes

mcrthabessells  
new url bc the vamps are dead to me and i would follow bess to the end of the world  
#Martha Bessell #nhl-vamps -> mcrthabessells #fuck the vampires they've ruined my life for the last time #i've been following bess since she was in the ncaa and i literally only liked the vamps because she was there #i live closer to spokane anyway #alyssa screams  
15 notes

bergwomanns

[[A photoset consisting of PowerPoint slides with silly commentary and description of the players of the Spokane Threshers]](http://pldubrahs.tumblr.com/private/170754000415/tumblr_p3zhgd0tmx1resrib)

So I hear all the trades the Threshers did brought in some new fans and I thought I'd make a quick primer to get you all acquainted with the team  
Social media and other links under the cut!

Keep reading

#Melitta Rilow #Martha Bessell #Georg Zirschnitz #Spokane Threshers #Threshers #happy trade deadline lol #come on and slam and be a threshers fan #primers  
106 notes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (that powerpoint link is clickable.... jsyk)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its summertime and i miss hockey so have this chapter that has,,,, absolutely no hockey in it. listen i just like writing martha and i dont do it enough leave me alone

 

 

_[Partial transcript of an episode of New Orleans radio show Lee & Reggie]_

**LEE:** ... See, no, this next story is fun, because usually when we’re talking about an athlete tweeting something late at night after getting traded, it’s not anything good.  
**REGGIE:** No, it’s usually a disaster.  
**LEE:** Like that time with-  
**REGGIE:** Lee, please, we only have so long until we have to take questions, I want to at least get though some of our thoughts on this.  
**LEE:** [ _Sighs_ ] Fine! I’ll save my fun tweet anecdote for later.  
**REGGIE:** Thank you for your sacrifice. Anyway, this time it wasn’t a tweet disaster. No, this time hockey player Martha Bessel, formerly of the New Orleans Vampires but now a Spokane Thresher, tweeted out a quick thank you to the team and the fans late last night, after her trade went through.  
**LEE:** And she followed it up with a much longer, heartfelt goodbye to the city of New Orleans this morning on her instagram, presumably sent from an airplane as she traveled to her new city. And I know we don’t talk hockey much-  
**REGGIE:** Except for when the Vamps are winning.  
**LEE:** Except for when the Vamps are winning -- but it was a really weird time for a trade to happen, Reg. Like, she played in a game and afterwards, at nearly eleven central, that’s when Spokane’s like “Oh man, we’ve gotta have her, we can’t even wait for the morning”?  
**REGGIE:** Exactly. The NHL trade deadline hit about an hour ago, but we all saw how many trades happened in the last twelve hours. The Vamps got Greta Brandenburg, who’s a decent defender, but to push a trade of a mid-level defender and a bottom six forward-  
**LEE:** [ _Loudly groans_ ]  
**REGGIE:** [ _Exasperated_ ] I know you think she has potential, but the highest she’s ever played in New Orleans was on their third line, she’s spent most of her career-  
**LEE:** Playing out of position! She’s a right wing, she’s always been a right wing, and the Vamps made her play left  
**REGGIE:** It can't seriously be that different of a role.  
**LEE:** You can’t be serious. It’s like… being asked to eat with only your left hand.  
**REGGIE:** I’m left-handed.  
**LEE:** You know what I mean. It’s not impossible but it’s certainly harder than just using your right. It has to have had an effect on her play, and she’s still a NHL player despite it. That’s something, right? [ _a beat of silence_ ] Listeners, Reggie has just shrugged. I’m going to get you to care about hockey if it’s the last thing I do.  
**REGGIE:** I truly wish you luck. Anyway-  
[ _A tinny bell rings twice. Reggie sighs and Lee groans_ ]  
**REGGIE:** Well, that means it’s time to take your comments, complaints, and questions.  
**LEE:** Come one, come all, tell us that we're wrong and terrible.  
**REGGIE** **:**  The number to call is, once again, five-oh-four, two-one-seven...

* * *

Martha taps her fingers on the table.

She’s just gotten into Spokane, drove straight from the airport and her checked bags are still sitting in her rental car. She’s waiting for Wendla Bergmann to join her in this pancake restaurant, one that Wendla has sworn had _the best pancakes in Washington state_. The server keeps looking at her with something close to pity, like he thinks that maybe Martha’s been stood up for a date. It’s a fair assumption, since she _is_ sitting alone and nursing her third water, but Martha likes to think that she’d never wear anything like her plane clothes (ripped jeans and a Colgate sweatshirt, her ‘fro not even properly pulled out) on a date.

She pulls her phone out and puts it on the table but doesn’t unlock it, mostly because she isn’t sure what she’d do with it; Twitter has been way too much, to the point that she muted the whole app. She posted on Instagram this morning, something that her agent mostly wrote with a touch of her own feelings for the city of New Orleans and what her time there felt like, and so those comments are full of people debating about her as well (though she had seen well-wishers too). She doubts there’d be anything good on Facebook and opening up the internet with no set purpose is a one way ticket to ending up reading articles about how she failed New Orleans or was a bad trade. Instead she looks at her own reflection in the screen and keeps tapping the table. After far too long a time, long enough that the server has circled around _again_ to ask her if she wanted anything, the bell over the door rings and she looks up to watch as Wendla enters.

Wendla Bergmann is tall, nearly 6’, and she has deeply tanned skin and thick black hair that’s balanced in an intricate braid atop her head. She’s wearing a long peacoat and leggings, and her makeup is absolutely perfect. Martha suddenly, aggressively, remembers that she’s into women.

“Bess!” She says, grinning, sliding into Martha’s booth. The intonation isn’t the same as the Vamps had used, but then the Vamps’ way of saying it was always ever so slightly different from how her friends at Colgate had done it too.

“Bergy,” Martha replies, sticking a hand across the table. As they shake hands, Martha says, “Nice to officially meet you.”

The server swings around and gives Martha an approving look as he takes in Wendla, who’s unbuttoned her peacoat to reveal a flowy tank top, of all things. Martha is thankful that her skin’s too dark to blush. Wendla orders something without opening the menu. Martha, who hadn’t even really looked at the menu for nerves, just says, “The same as her, please.”

Wendla smiles at her and asks, “How was your flight?”

“As good as it could be,” Martha replies, because she flew first class but she’s been spoiled by a few hockey seasons of international travel on private jet (Though she knows that College Martha, who had to spend whole days traveling by bus for tournaments and games, would be appalled at her bougieness). Wendla laughs like she understands but kindly enough that Martha would never think Wendla was laughing _at_ her, and Martha can _definitely_ understand how Wendla became Spokane’s captain; the woman has charisma coming out of her ears. “Well, I really did want to get lunch to get to know you a bit before you move into my house for the rest of the season, but I also have some boring captain housekeeping to go through.”

Wendla pulls out her own phone, tapping a couple times, “Okay, so, we don’t play tonight, luckily, but we did have a practice that you missed for your flight earlier; we knew you wouldn’t make that, though, so it’s fine. We _also_ have practice tomorrow though, and that’s when you and the others will be officially introduced to the team. I’m sending you the practice schedule now.”

Martha nods, “How many other people did y’all pick up this week?”

“Five, but we had a couple other people come in last week off of waivers or small trades, so there’s been a bit of mobility in the lineups,” Wendla looks up from her phone to look Martha in the eyes, squinting slightly, “You’re a right wing, right?”

“I, uh, yeah,” Martha says, a bit surprised. “Haven’t played there since I got drafted, but it’s what I prefer.”

Wendla just looks at her for another moment, intense enough that Martha almost starts squirming, before breaking the serious facade and smiling as she makes note in her phone. Martha mentally corrects her earlier statement: Wendla’s captain because of the charisma _and_ because she has a _hell_ of a Captain Stare Down going for her.

“Alright! The only business thing left is…” Wendla trails off, sighing. “I need to add you to the group chats.”

Most teams have a group chat (or three), because they do spend lots of hours a week together and are typically friends, but Martha still tilts her head at the way Wendla said it. “You don’t seem excited about it.”

Wendla winces, “It’s not you. I don’t want you to feel unwelcome or anything, but I also don’t want you to have a bad impression of the team, and they can be a bit... rowdy.”

“I _am_ a hockey player too,” Martha reminds Wendla. Wendla looks a little less like she’s about to get a root canal, but still a little apprehensive.

“Alright, well, there’s one for official announcements, practice times and the like, and another that our goalie made,” Wendla pauses, “Feel free to mute the second one, it can be… a lot.”

Wendla taps something on her phone and Martha’s phone buzzes twice. Once for each group chat, she supposes, picking it up. It vibrates again in her hand as Bergy sends a message to the casual chat.

 

 

Threshers Casual  
  
Bergy  
Okay everyone, I’ve added Martha Bessel to the group chat.  
Please, try to be normal for a second.  
Boat  
Hi Martha!  
Stiefer  
Welcome to the team, Martha!  
Thanks! I’m really excited to be here.  
lows  
heyyyyyyyyy holy shit whats up  
glad berg finally got around to adding u lmao  
also rip hockey players make do, hello boring new gc name  
Hans  
Way to be normal, Tay  
lows  
how abt you stfu hansi  
Melitta Rilow  
Children.  
Hans  
Sorry, Melitta  
Lows  
sry litta  
Gaber  
Rilow the third is going to be a lifesaver on this team  
Melitta Rilow  
I’m the oldest.  
Wheels  
Also, shut up Melchior  
[sheep emoji]  
lol ))))))

Martha looks up from her phone. Wendla has her head in her hands.

“Like I said, _please_ feel free to ignore the second one. I promise your teammates are better in person.”

Martha glances between the screen and Wendla, a smile twisting the sides of her lips. “I can’t wait to meet them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! also yes the threshers casual gc used to be named Hockey Players Make Do and wendla made them change it

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! who knows when this will update but it will, im sure  
> [Main Tumblr (pldubrahs)](http://www.pldubrahs.tumblr.com) | [Writing Tumblr (nacreousglowclouds)](http://nacreousglowclouds.tumblr.com/) | [Personal Twitter (@squidias)](http://twitter.com/squidias)


End file.
